All Eibar footballers have played this season (2019-2020) when the Portuguese defender Rafa Soares made his debut against Real Madrid in Valdebebas, at the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium, last Sunday. He was a starter in his first meeting with the First Division team from Gipuzkoa, with which he opened with a clear defeat (3-1) at the league restart.
Eibar have 24 players in their squad, and all of them have already acted in the league after having been made the only footballer left to do so. It is also true that Rafa Soares is the last to join, since it arrived on loan on January 31 from the Vitoria de Guimaraes. The loan is per campaign and a half, until June 30, 2021, with a purchase option.
In his debut, the left back defender came into play shortly, just as the white attacker did not intervene much either Rodrygo, who was in his area. For this reason, and with the 3-0 against, Rafa Soares was replaced (min. 57) by Pedro Bigas, involuntary author of the Barça goal soon after (min. 59). And it is that a shot of the Argentine extreme Pablo De Blasis, hit the body of Bigas and the ball changed trajectory, passing under the legs of a surprised Courtois (the Belgian goalkeeper was the best Real Madrid player with good stops for Edu Expósito and Pedro León).
From the end of January until the league was stopped in mid-March by the coronavirus, the Portuguese had not entered the plans of the Barça coach, José Luis Mendilibar. He had been ruled out by the coach in five of the six games in which he could have acted. Only once had he been summoned before the competition stopped. He entered a list of 18 summoned for the duel against Real Sociedad (1-2) in Ipurua on Tuesday, March 10, which has gone down in history as the first game played behind closed doors in Spain by COVID-19. He was a substitute and did not get to play in a game without an audience, so his spirits from the bench and those of his teammates were the only ones that the Barça soccer players heard.
Rafa Soares had not played for four months, because the last time he had done it was on January 27 with the Vitoria de Guimaraes, who lost (1-2) in his stadium, the Afonso Henriques, before the Rio Ave.
Luis Rafael Soares Alves (Marco de Canaveses, 1995) is living his second experience outside of Portugal, where he has spent most of his career. It was formed in the quarry of the Port, in whose team B played between 2013 and 2016. Without getting to debut in the first team of Porto, he was loaned to two teams from the Portuguese first division; in January 2016 at Coimbra Academic (2015-2016), and then at Ave River (2016-2017). Later, it was lent to Fulham (2017-2018) of the English second division, although after the transfer was canceled -he barely played- to the London club on January 31, 2018, he returned transferred to a Portuguese club, the Portimonense (2017-2018).
In the 2018-2019 season he signed for the Vitoria Guimaraes and played 27 games, all of them as a starter. In the current campaign (2019-2020) he played 10 league matches in Portugal, and one in the cup. In addition, he participated in five Europa League duels, one of them against Arsenal.
José Ángel 'Cote' stayed on the bench and did not play
The Portuguese was one of the surprises in the Mendilibar lineup against Real Madrid directed by Zinedine Zidane. The coach of Zaldibar left Asturian José Ángel Valdés 'Cote' without playing, who had been the undisputed starter and had played every minute in the last 10 league games. Since December 20, when Eibar beat Granada (3-0) at Ipurua, José Ángel 'Cote' had been irreplaceable after a campaign start marked by injuries.
Precisely, the physical mishaps of the left-hander from Gijón During the preseason -repeated in October and December-, and the fact that José Ángel 'Cote' was the only specific left-back defender from the Eibar team, led Eibar to reinforce that position in the 'winter market'. Thus, on the last day of the transfer 'winter market', it incorporated Rafa Soares, a left-hander who can play both lateral defense and a more offensive position on the left wing.
Taking into account that Eibar must play 11 matches in five weeks of competition, with only 72 hours of rest between matches, the next one will be against Athletic Club on Wednesday (7.30pm) in Ipurua, Mendilibar has decided that it is best to rotate your men to face this 'marathon'. Thus, José Ángel 'Cote' will probably regain ownership against the rojiblanco team trained by Gaizka Garitano, who was a footballer and coach for Eibar.
The fact that the Asturian left-hander received a penalty (has seen four yellow cards) and that the important rivalry duel against Athletic Club could have been lost if they had seen a card against Real Madrid, they possibly took Mendilibar to reserve for him. The Zaldibar coach also left another key footballer, the midfielder, on the bench, without dressing short. Pape Diop, one of the most veteran footballers of the Eibarrés team, who must be cared for as 'gold in cloth' in the decisive final stretch of the league, in which Eibar plays for permanence.
Five games in a row at 7:30 p.m.
The first five matches of Eibar in the league restart they will be played at the same time (19:30). The azulgranas already 'premiered' that schedule before the Real Madrid in Valdebebas (Round 28), and they will return to play in that strip this week twice. The first against Athletic Club Wednesday at Ipurua (J29); and the second in front of Getafe Saturday at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez (J30).
Subsequently, the Eibar-Valencia from Thursday June 25 in Ipurua (J31); and the Granada-Eibar Sunday June 28 at Nuevo Los Cármenes (J32), will also start at 7:30 p.m.